With Remembrance Day ceremonies most people think about our aging veterans and wars of the past, but there is also a new generation of heroes we need to honour.

On September 24th, 2007 Nathan Hornburg was killed in Afghanistan.

While Hornburg grew up in Calgary his family roots are in Nanton.

His sister Rachel Herbert, who lives on a ranch outside of Nanton with her husband Tyler, children Avery and William, says this year they held a special celebration to honour him.

"(September 24th) marked the 10th anniversary, we call it Nathan Day in our family," said Herbert. "We have always marked the day with a celebration with our family, with our friends and with his soldier friends who have been on this 10 year journey with us."

The September weekend was extra special because soldiers came from all across Canada to honour him.

"We had a barbecue, we had a bunch of people camping in our yard."

And the Kings Own Calgary Regiment, Nathan's reserve regiment from Calgary, put on a parade outside of the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton.

There is a memorial tree for Nathan outside the museum and the Nathan Hornburg Memorial Skate Park is in behind.

"So the Kings Own went on parade and just lead us in a small celebration of remembrance. It was just amazing to know that Nathan's legacy has touched so many people beyond our family and to see him celebrated like that, feels good as family."

Another tribute to Nathan on the 10th anniversary of his passing is a new living memorial at the Military Museums in Calgary that features a working Armoured Recovery Vehicle, or ARV, like the one he was working on when he was killed.

"It is operational. There are volunteers that have put in 1300 volunteer hours of time so far to get it running. They want to give it another fresh coat of paint."

It is going to be operational so people will have a sense of what those big machines can do.

"My kids got to stand on it while the motor was running. They are pretty impressed. They are what I call, as a civilian, the tow truck of tanks. Instead of being armed with a gun they have a winch and a blade on the front. They are the vehicle that is used for any of the recovery operations."

When Nathan was killed he was trying to recover a tank that had lost a track.

Herbert, whose birthday lands on November 11th, says his passing has altered the lives of so many people.

"It was a very simple and fitting celebration of the 10 years that have gone on without him. Somedays it seems like yesterday and other times it seems like a lifetime has gone by."